Development and training of referential communication in children with mental retardation

In referential communication, the speaker must communicate to the listener about how a referent is different from other stimuli (i.e., employ the "difference rule"--Whitehurst & Sonnenschein, 1985). In Experiment 1 we compared use of the difference rule by children with and without mental retardation matched for Quick Test MA. Participants with mental retardation were less likely to employ the difference rule. Experiment 2 demonstrated that perceptual feedback training, which teaches use of the difference rule, enhances referential communication of children with mental retardation.